The Sword Of Swords: Viewer Comments

'Sword of Swords' is an ultraviolent, wu xia pian swordplay kung fu film that tried to jump on the 'One Armed Swordsman' bandwagon. While it's not as good as 'OAS', it's still a solid work from director Cheng Kang and the Shaw Brothers studio. Cheng Kang is no Chang Cheh, but he more than holds his own. The simple plot revolves around swordsman Jia (Jimmy Wang Yu) as he becomes the caretaker of the Sword of Swords after his master (Ching Miao) passes away and Jia's not-so-simple attempts to keep the sword in the "right hands". A rotten swordsman and equally rotten human being (Tien Feng) will stop at nothing to take the Sword of Swords away from Swordsman Jia: he kills Jia's family and friends, he takes Jia's lovely wife, Bai Feng (Li Ching) hostage, and he'll do anything to turn Jia world upside-down! He even tries to kill Jia's infant baby boy! I have to agree with MPM's review; Li Ching is pretty much a damsel-in-distress in this film. She even takes some beatings from macho, misogynistic members of the Shang Clan! It's kind of a pity; Li Ching would appear as pivotal characters in many other Shaw Brothers-produced flicks. Oh, well! Jimmy Wang Yu is good at portraying anti-heroes; this could be due to his real-life infamous persona. This is also one of the few Jimmy Wang Yu films where he retains his two arms, but he loses his vision in a duel, unfortunately! One of HK cinema's greats, Tien Feng, does a good job as usual as the rotten antagonist who wants the Sword of Swords for himself. Ouyang Shafei appears as a kind, elderly, conservative, blue-collar lady who gives shelter to Jia and his baby boy after Jia is rendered blind in a duel. This film definitely has a sense of hopelessness in many scenes and the villains are very odious! The villains deserve their "just desserts" by the time the climax rolls around. At 105 minutes, this film's pacing moves well enough, aside from some pacing problems. While not the most original or most memorable of 1960's HK/Shaw Brothers swordplay films, 'Sword of Swords' is still a solid flick.